(EP2) The Catcher's Role (Anime)
'"The Catcher’s Role" '(キャッチャーの役割 Kyāchā no Yakuwari) is the second episode of season one. Sypnosis The episode begins with Coach Momoe cleaning a window as part of her part-time job. She realizes that she has saved enough money for the baseball club and is happy that they will be going to training camp the next day. A flashback is also shown where Shino'oka asks if she can be the equipment manager. The episode cuts to the next day where the team is on the way to training camp on a bus. Tajima suddenly shouts out that he forgot to drain the monster (Masturbate) causing some of his teammates to pin him down to the chair and yell at him to be quiet since there is a woman (Shino'oka) on the bus. Abe and Hanai discuss the 3 at-bat challenge, Hanai clearly expressing both an inferiority complex toward Tajima, and a feeling of disappointment in himself, until Mr.Shiga approaches Abe and asks him if he could give some medicine to Mihashi. Abe asks why and Shiga tells him that Mihashi looks up to Abe and that he should take care of his pitcher. Abe tells Mihashi that if he knew that he gets motion sickness then he should have taken medicene before they left. Mihashi thanks Abe and tells him that this is not normal for him. He tells Abe that he hasn't been sleeping lately because he is worried about what Coach Momoe said about his personality. Abe thinks that Mihashi wouldn't be able to change his personality easily but would rather have him as their pitcher if he can put up with Mihashi's annoying personality. When the team gets to the training camp Coach Momoe told them that they were going to clean the house then gather some wild plants to make their own dinner. The scene cuts to Nishiura busily cleaning the place. Everyone is hard at work except for Mihashi who doesn't know what to do. Afterwards when team leaves to find some plants. Mihashi and Abe are asked to do something else by Coach Momoe. Coach Momoe asks Mihashi what his max speed is and he tells her that it's 100-101 km/h. Coach Momoe laughs at him and Abe says that Mihashi's control makes up for his lack of speed. Coach Momoe asks Mihashi to do his windup on-top of a block of wood. Mihashi tries to but falls down which makes Coach Momoe laugh at him again. Coach Momoe instructs Abe to put on a helmet and hands Mihashi a speed gun. Coach Momoe pitches and it measures a 122 km/h. Coach Momoe told him that he could probably throw the same speed as they were almost the same height. Coach Momoe gives Mihashi a dumbbell and tells him to hold it and throw a ball. Coach Momoe tells Abe that they cannot go that far with just decent control and some breaking balls. Abe says they can go as far as they want. Coach Momoe tells him that he doesn't know the catcher's role and flicks him in the head. Mihashi says that he is ready and Abe gets into position. Mihashi tries to throw but the dumbbell is too heavy so he can't turn his body properly. He still throws the ball and falls over. The ball misses Abe's mitt completely but the speed was 10km higher than normal. Abe however is not happy with this and says that they do not need a wild pitcher. Mihashi says that'll he work hard to pitch with good speed and control. Abe yells at Mihashi saying that if he throws with all his power that he wouldn't be able to hit all 9 sections in the strike zone. Abe says that speed is natural talent, but control takes a lot of work. Coach Momoe asks him why they couldn't work on his other areas. She gets ready to leave but first tells Mihashi not to throw any pitches but to practice his windup on the woodblock. She says to Mihashi that he needs to save his energy for the Mihoshi game. She also tells him that she could only arrange a game with the freshman players, or as she liked to call it 'Your former teammates that hate your guts'. Mihashi freaks out as Coach Momoe expects Mihashi to up his speed with the Mihoshi game haunting his every thought. Abe tries to calm him down as Mihashi doesn't need speed as his control is good enough. Mihashi tells Abe that he is sick of throwing slow and that he wants to throw fast instead. Abe tells him that he shouldn't sacrifice his control for more speed but Mihashi ignores him completely as he practices on the woodblock. Abe storms of and says to himself that he may be obedient on the mound but he's just like all the other pitchers, overly sensitive with an inflated ego. He says that if wasn't for the fact that Mihashi was on his team then he wouldn't waste any time on him. The episode cuts to night time and back at the training camp. The team is cooking some food while Tajima is enjoying the smell of the food. Tajima tries to take some of the food but Shiga grabs Mihashi's hand with chopsticks. Shiga starts talking about the hormones of the brain as Abe and Mihashi return from training. After Shiga's long lecture the team sits at the dining table eagerly awaiting their dinner. Shiga tells everyone to look at their meals and to shout it looks great. Coach Momoe then says thanks for the food and everyone follows. Afterwards everyone digs into the food. Hanai and the rest of the team discuss how Shiga knows all these things about the brain despite the fact that he's a math teacher. Sakaeguchi says that Shiga has been to many schools and seminars, but not all of them were for math. Hanai asks Sakaeguchi how he knows about all of that, to which he replies that he practiced over Spring Break and heard some things. He also heard that Shiga asked Coach Momoe to start the team. He also says that Coach Momoe works some part-time jobs for the team with Tajima replying that Coach Momoe is a nice person. Hanai then asks if Coach Momoe and Shiga are dating. Everyone, except for Tajima suddenly feel sick after thinking about that. Shiga suddenly bursts in and gets in one of the futons. He tells them all to go to sleep but they say that there is not enough space for their futons. Shiga tells them that they may be a little young, but people only truly understand each other when they share the same bed. He tells them that every night he wants everyone to share a bed with a different teammate. Hanai throws a pillow at Shiga which causes a pillow fight. Mihashi is sitting on the side however, just watching. Shiga notices this and asks Mihashi if there was anything wrong. Mihashi lied and told him that he was fine. Mihashi however is hit on the face by a pillow and falls over. The scene cuts to Abe sitting outside cleaning his catcher's mitt. He once again comments on how bad are all the pitchers. Coach Momoe appears and asks Abe how Mihashi did. Coach Momoe says that whenever a team is made, 2-3 players always stands out, but those 2 or 3 players cannot win a game. She said that the 3 outstanding players of the current team are Tajima, Hanai and him, Abe. Abe says that Coach Momoe said he doesn't understand the role of the catcher. Coach Momoe told him that he will understand as the time will pass. Abe gets angry and asks her to make him understand as he raises his fist. She grabs Abe's hand with both of hers causing him to blush. She tightens her grip as she tells him he will understand. Abe asks him what she wants him to do. She tells Abe to do the same thing to Mihashi and that he will see a whole new side of Mihashi. Afterwards the team is seen sleeping peacefully together. All except for Mihashi who is struggling to sleep. Manga Cuts * Momoe's window washer squeegee weighs over twenty pounds. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1